Tastevin Bistro and Wine Bar
Level 1 292-294 Victoria St
Darlinghurst, Sydney
Tastevin is upstairs from street level. It's probably not the easiest place to find even though the signs are fairly prominent.
However it is certainly worth going up that stairway to food heaven and experiencing what's on offer.
It has a wonderful ambiance with old world charm that is anything but dated.
The whole place has a real timeless feel to it.
Tastevin has been here for five years building an excellent reputation for quality French food served in a pleasant environment.
Level 1 292-294 Victoria St
Darlinghurst, Sydney
Tastevin is upstairs from street level. It's probably not the easiest place to find even though the signs are fairly prominent. However it is certainly worth going up that stairway to food heaven and experiencing what's on offer.
It has a wonderful ambiance with old world charm that is anything but dated.
The whole place has a real timeless feel to it.
Tastevin has been here for five years building an excellent reputation for quality French food served in a pleasant environment.
We started the evening with a basket of bread being delivered to the table.The basket of house made bread had two varieties.
One was a sourdough baguette and the other was infused with lemon zest, fennel and mustard seeds.
Both the breads were extremely soft, light, fresh and tasty and we probably ate more than we should have.
They came with salted butter and Alto olive oil.
We also started (and finished) a lovely bottle of Le Haut-Medoc de Maucaillou 2007. It was recommended and it turned out to be a lovely drop.
My starter was the Gnocchi à la Parisienne. I was a bit unsure about ordering gnocchi at a French restaurant but as this was a signature dish I figured there was a good reason for this. It turned out to be an amazing dish!
The gnocchi was so light - the lightest I have ever had - and it came with sautéed mushrooms and white truffle mornay.
Mlady had the grilled kingfish carpaccio. It came with avruga caviar, witlof and grapefruit vinaigrette.The colours, flavours and textures were amazing - she loved it all. She described it as colourfully appetising, very refreshing and light.
It ticked all the boxes and proved to be an excellent starter tempting the palate for the courses that lay ahead.
My main was another signature dish of Tastevin - the grilled beef eye fillet.It was served with pommes mille-feuilles, baby beets and chanterelle jus.
The meat was beautifully done. I was advised earlier that medium rare was recommended and I was more than happy for this. It melted in my mouth and everything combined so well. The dish looked and tasted fantastic.
Mlady is a barramundi fanatic so the barramundi fillet was an easy choice for her - although several other main courses tempted her.
The barramundi fillet was beautifully plated with fricassee of mussels, kipfler potatoes, leek and beurre blanc.
The skin was nicely crisp and the flesh was soft, moist and perfectly cooked. Yet again this was a great combination.
Mlady finished her meal with the dark chocolate parfait. It was served in a short glass with raspberry sorbet and lemon chantilly.
It was rich and sweet but not in an overpowering way. She said it was lovely.
The raspberry sorbet was light and refreshing and the lemon chantilly went nicely as well.
My dessert was the flambéed Grand Marnier crêpes Suzette.I love crepes and this dessert was part food and part show as a very generous serving of Grand Marnier was lit at the table.
They were absolutely delicious and the liqueur and crepes blended with the side serving of vanilla ice cream. Lovely!!!
Tastevin is owned by chef Alex Bourdon and his wife Natasha. The whole place has an elegant, timeless old world charm to it. Service was excellent on our visit and the modern French cuisine was "magnifique"! This place is a hidden gem - it's well worth making the effort to find it.
Sir and Mlady dined as guests of Tastevin. Special thanks to Alex Bourdon for inviting us. Thanks also to Charlie for looking after us so capably on our visit.
